Tortured Souls
by Ranko twin
Summary: Based off of Corpse Party. YAOI. It was just supposed to be a harmless little charm done between friends so they could always be together, even if one of them were to leave. Then they are suddenly in this strange place, where they are told they are going to die, that there is no way out and they can't see their friends again. Will they learn to survive? Or crack? M for gore.
1. Chapter 1

**Yami: Hey! Look who I found! (drags in Ranko twin tied up and gagged)**

**Yuugi: Well then… (death stare) It's been a while, hasn't it?**

**Ranko: (sweat drop)**

**Yuugi: We're going to un-gag you now, but you have to promise not to scream for help. **

**Yami: We'll give you a chance to explain but make it quick. (un-gags Ranko)**

**Ranko: He-he… Uh, well, you see…**

**Yami: Times up!**

**Ranko: No wait! You guys might not know this but this year I was a senior in high school. The first semester I could balance this and school fairly well, but then I got even busier second semester and I had to take a break! I am so sorry for not giving you a head up but I do plan on continuing all of my stories and starting some new ones…as you can tell right now. But I will hopefully have more free time in summer, so please stick with me! **

**Yuugi: What do you think, Yami?**

**Yami: Hmm…well, without her we can't really do crap so I guess I will have to believe her. **

**Ranko: Thank you! …Now please untie me!**

**Yami: Fine…**

**Yuugi: What's the new story about, Ranko?**

**Ranko: Well, it is based off of one of my favorite movies The Little Mermaid!**

**Yami&Yuugi: …**

**Ranko: What? Not **_**that**_** many bad things happen to you guys!**

**Yami&Yuugi: …**

**Ranko: Okay, that's a lie; you guys are screwed! Just do the disclaimer anyway!**

**Yuugi: Ranko twin does not own anything that involves Yu-Gi-Oh or Corpse Party; both belong to their respected owners/creators. This is a nonprofitable story.**

**Yami: WARNING! Do not read this story or watch/play Corpse Party if gore disturbs you. This is rated M only because of blood and gore, no lemons! Also, if you have seen/played Corpse Party no spoilers in the reviews! **

**Ranko: That about covers it! Enjoy!**

-/-

_Sachi is my pride and joy…_

_She'd do anything for me…_

…_I don't think she even recognizes me anymore. _

_But I still love her with all my heart._

* * *

The lights were turned down low, the rain was beating hard against the glass windows. The air was thick, as if trapping everyone in the room, holding them in its palm. The only source of light was a dim candle light, flickering ever so gently, shadowing the face of a boy with pure white hair and flawless, pale skin.

"It was a rainy evening after school, just like this…" the boy said in a low, foreboding way. "Running down the stairs, the kindly teacher lost her footing. She tumbled, falling down the stairs, breaking her neck, and dying." The boy grinned; it was so small, almost nonexistent, as he continued on. "You all have heard the stories at least once. Before Tagami High School was built here, there was another school. An elementary school. Heavenly Host Elementary. Such a horrible thing to have happened. After many more horrible turn of events, it was announced that the school was to be shut down." The boy shook his head. "The principal was devastated; that school was like a child to him. So…on the day it was scheduled to be demolished…he jumped off the roof of the school."

There was a small lightning flash and a clap of thunder

There was a gasp heard from the room as the boy paused in his story. The lights were quickly turned back on and one could see a mildly annoyed high school student standing by the light switch; the boy had spiky, tri-colored hair.

In the room, there were five other students surrounding the boy who was telling the story, not including the one who got up to turn on the lights.

The white-haired boy looked annoyed that he had lost his atmosphere; the one with tri-colored hair shrugged and sat back down next to a blond boy who was shaking, he didn't take well to horror.

"People thought Heavenly Host was cursed and that was only the latest of many other deaths that occurred on the school property, which is why it was shut down," the story-teller said. He took a pause for dramatic effect and leaned in closer to the group huddled around him. "However," he said in a hushed tone, as if he were telling a secret, his friends leaned in closer as well in anticipation. "It's said that the teacher who fell down the stairs still doesn't know that she's dead. And on rainy evenings like this one, after our school day's come to an end, roaming these darkened halls…still believing them to be her own."

There was another clap of thunder, but that didn't distract any of them from the story as they still listened attentively.

"In fact, it's almost time for her to make her nightly rounds," the boy said, sitting up straight again, turning around to check the clock that was hanging behind them on the wall. "Just after seven, she appears, accompanied by a sudden black out. _Knock, knock_. That's the only warning you'll receive and then there will be the sound of the classroom door ssslowly sssliding open… Then you'll see her deathly white face peak in through the crack in the door as she ask, _"Is anyone still here?"_ And then…!"

The boy was cut off by a particularly loud clap of thunder that caused the whole building the shake, causing the lights to suddenly cut off, the only light once again coming from the candle.

There was the sound of a scream and then someone falling on the floor.

"Yuugi protect me!"

"Jounouchi! Get off!"

The white haired boy picked up the candle and shown it in the direction where the voices were coming from. There he saw his two friends, Jounouchi and Yuugi. Jounouchi was the one who had screamed and dragged Yuugi down with him when he fell. Jounouchi was now squeezing the poor boy to death as he silently sobbed. Jounouchi definitely did _not _like scary things.

"A blackout!" Jounouchi said, shivering.

Yuugi sighed and patted Jounouchi on the back. "Come on, pull yourself together!"

"But it was scary!" Jounouchi said, giving his best friend the puppy eyes, which were ineffective on Yuugi since he practically invented the puppy eyes.

"I don't like this," the white haired boy said. "This shouldn't be happening."

Another boy with spiky, untamed white hair walked up and patted the small boy on the shoulder. The boy quickly stepped away and gave the other boy a look. "Not back, Ryou," the taller one said. "You almost had me going there for a minute."

Ryou fumed. "It wasn't me! Honestly, Bakura! I knew that you were dumb but I didn't know you were that dumb! I've been standing here the whole time, how could I have done it?"

The taller boy growled, showing his canines. "Why, you little…!"

Jounouchi, who was finally dragged off of Yuugi by the other boy from earlier, nearly fell to his knees again. "Yami…" the blond said, speaking to the one who helped him up. "Th-this is a real blackout then?"

The whole room suddenly went silent as they heard the sound of footsteps walking down the hall and getting closer to them.

Jounouchi went pale. "Does anyone else hear that?"

A rather dangerous looking guy with crazily spiked bleach blond hair spoke up. "It sounds like its coming from the music room."

Everyone held their breath as they listening, the silence screaming in their ears. They all gasped silently as they heard the sound of someone knocking softly.

Ryou took a step away from the door, his legs shaking, almost falling on to Bakura. "No way…" he breathed out.

Jounouchi clung to Yuugi, whimpering softly.

Yuugi squeaked. "Jounouchi, get your hands off my ass!" the smaller boy hissed.

Jounouchi blushed and quickly put his hands above his head. He opened his mouth to apologize but he was cut off whenever there was the sound of someone knocking once again.

Yami sighed, looking more than mildly annoyed now. "I told you it was a bad idea to stay here after school hours and tell ghost stories!" He huffed and began walking around the desks to get to the door. "I'm getting a little tired of this," he muttered under his breath.

Yuugi gaped and reached out after him. "Wait, Yami!" But the taller boy was already at the door, his hand reaching towards the handle to slide it open, but he never got a chance.

His hand didn't even touch the door but it slid open just a crack, a deathly pale face, letting off a strange glow peaked into the room, staring right at Yami who suddenly felt as if he all of his muscles had stopped working.

"Is anyone still here?" It was the voice of one that was barely used, sort of distorted…because it had to speak with a broken neck.

Yami made a noise in the back of his throat, like he was choking and then screamed, jumping back and landing on his butt.

There was the sound of laughing coming from the other side of the door that cut through the tense atmosphere of the room. The door slid open fully as the lights turned back on. Standing in the doorway was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair, and a purple tailored suit that hugged all of her curves, the pencil skirt fell just above her knees. She held a flashlight in her hand and was still laughing.

"Did I scare you?" she asked the group.

Ryou laughed triumphantly and went over to high five his teacher. "Good job, Miss Mai!"

It took everyone in the moment to realize what had just happened before someone in the back started laughing. It was a boy with sandy blond hair, standing next to the rebels. "Hey, I think we've just been had!"

Yami sat there, still where he fell, in a daze as Yuugi helped him up.

"Your timing couldn't have been more perfect!" Ryou complimented as he continued smiling from ear to ear.

Mai smiled and put her hand on her hip. "I wasn't a student here too long ago, so I am very familiar with the ghost stories of Tagami High School."

The boy with the sandy blond hair walked up to Yami and patted the boy on the back. "I thought that Jounouchi's reaction was priceless, but yours was even better!"

Yami grumbled something that sounded a lot like, "Shut up, Malik."

Ryou walked up to Yami and poked his arm like a child trying to annoy another. "I got you, I got you!" he taunted. "I was expecting that kind of reaction out of Jounouchi, but Yami?" Ryou gasped in an overdramatized fashion. "I never would have guessed it!"

Yami crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Who would have heard of a class rep with such a sadistic streak, anyway?"

Ryou grinned.

Mai smiled apologetically and walked up to Yami, giving him on a pat on the back, her high heels clicking with every step. "Sorry about that, Yami, but I have to say that your reaction was very amusing." She laughed and turned towards Jounouchi who was trying to stay away from his taunting friends. "Of course, not as priceless as Jounouchi's though!"

Jounouchi groaned and hid his face in his hands out of embarrassment.

She laughed again and tucked the flashlight away in the purse she had been carrying. "All joking aside, I ran into someone who's here to see Yuugi…"

Yuugi cocked his head to the side cutely. "What? Who's here to see me?"

Before Mai had a chance to answer, they all heard the sound of a shrill voice call out, "Yuugi-darling!"

Yuugi's eyes widened as he groaned, his head falling in his hands.

Then a small figure darted into the room and immediately latched itself on to Yuugi, squeezing him tightly. Then everyone could see that it was a girl, probably about twelve, with long blonde hair and a pair of glasses perched on her nose.

Yuugi laughed awkwardly and patted the girl's head. "H-hi, Rebecca," he said. "What are you doing here?"

Rebecca looked up and pouted at him. "I just wanted to see you, Yuugi-darling."

Yami made a face and turned away.

"Also, you forgot your umbrella!" she said, holding up a red umbrella that she had dropped when she had tackled Yuugi.

"Yuugi, who is this?" Malik asked.

"This is Rebecca, she's staying in town with me and my grandpa as her grandfather is out on an expedition." He patted the girl on the head again as he took the umbrella. "She's like a little sister to me."

Rebecca pouted and then she turned to the group of friends and smiled. "I'm going to be Yuugi's wife one day!" she chirped.

Yuugi gaped, his face turning red and Jounouchi started laughing. "It looks like you've got some competition, Yami!" he said, still laughing.

Yami gaped as well, trying to form words while nothing came out, as Yuugi became even redder. "Can we not talk about this?" he grumbled, putting the umbrella on his desk.

Mai clapped her hands loudly to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone! This has been fun, but its getting late and I don't want your family to worry about you so why don't you go home?"

Malik's good mood suddenly escaped him as he lowered his head. The spiky haired boy went over to put an arm around him.

Mai's shoulder sagged as she walked over to the two. She put a hand on the taller boy's shoulder and said, "Its okay, Marik."

Marik stepped away, but very hesitantly and allowed Mai to comfort Malik.

"Malik…" she said softly, brushing his hair with her fingers. "I know how hard it is to say goodbye." She smiled sweetly. "But I wish you the best of luck at your new school. I know you'll be fine and everyone will love you."

Malik looked up and smiled at her, though it was a bit wavering. "Thanks," he said softly.

Jounouchi laughed softly. "It definitely won't be the same around here without you, Malik," he said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey, Yuugi?" Rebecca whispered.

"Hmm?"

"What's going on?" she asked curiously. "Is that boy transferring schools or something?"

Yuugi's face became solemn. "Not quite. His family is moving back to Egypt. And today was his last day."

Rebecca gasped. "Oh…"

Malik rubbed his eyes in frustration as all of his friends came around him to wish him luck and tell him how much they were going to miss him. He finally shooed them away, letting out a watery laugh. "Okay, that's enough! Let's not get too sentimental now! You guys being so nice to me…its kind of freaking me out." He laughed again. "Its not like I'm dying."

Jounouchi suddenly dropped to his knees and began fake sobbing. "Oh Malik! I will always be watching over you from above!"

Yami's left eye twitched in annoyance. "Jou?"

"My spirit will guide your path!" he continued to wail.

"God!" Yami groaned. "Shut the fuck up already," he said, hitting Jounouchi upside the head. "You're not dead!"

Jounouchi growled and shot up to his feet. "Hey! That hurt!"

The two quickly got into a bit of a verbal and physical battle.

Malik started laughing, this time it was more genuine. "It's okay, Yami!" he shouted over the arguing. "I'm glad that Jounouchi is acting normal…it makes me feel like nothing's going to change."

"Hey!" Ryou said, his face lighting up. "Why don't we take a picture?"

"I'm in!" Jounouchi called as he got Yami in a headlock.

"Leave me out of it," Marik grumbled. "I'll take the picture."

Malik pouted but didn't abject; he knew Marik for a long time and he knew that he didn't like that sentimental, emotional stuff.

Everyone began to crowd around Malik, including Mai and Rebecca, as Marik got on his knees, he was too tall, to take the picture.

Marik looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here, but everyone knew that he would miss Malik most of all, Malik also knew that Marik wasn't very good at outwardly expressing his emotions. "Okay, everyone ready?" he asked in a bored tone. "Three…two…one." He snapped the picture.

Everyone began to chime in to look at the picture or to send it to their phone, it was finally Ryou who spoke up above all the chatter.

"Hey, everyone! Before we go, I want to try everything with you all," he said excitedly, reaching into his bag, digging through its contents.

Bakura smirked. "What? You finally know what an orgy is?"

Ryou's face turned red, though it was more out of frustration than embarrassment. "Shut up, Bakura!" He ignored the taller boy and continued searching through his bag. He finally made a sound of success, shouting, "Here it is!" and pulled out a little paper doll.

Everyone stared in silence for a moment, more than a little confused. "What is that?" Malik asked curiously.

Bakura sighed. "Is this another one of your occult things?" he asked in annoyance.

Ryou ignored Bakura again and responded to Malik. "It's called 'Sachiko Ever After.' It's a charm I found on the internet."

"How does it work?" Jounouchi asked curiously.

"We all grab on to a piece of the paper doll and chant 'Sachiko, we beg of you' in our heads, saying it nine times, each time for one person," Ryou explained. "If we do it right, we'll be friends forever, or something like that." Ryou smiled and clutched the paper doll hopefully to his chest.

Malik grinned. "Hey, it sounds cool! Let do it, guys!"

Everyone agreed, Bakura and Marik grumbled a bit, but they eventually joined the circle that had formed around the paper doll that Ryou was holding out.

"I wanna do it too!" Rebecca cried, squeezing in between Yami and Yuugi. Yami grumbled this time and looked away from the overly excited girl.

"Why don't you join too, Miss Mai?" Ryou asked.

The older woman seemed hesitant, but she shook that feeling away and nodded her head, smiling at her students. "Alright, it sounds harmless enough." She joined the circle, going between Malik and Ryou.

Once everyone had gathered around the doll, the grabbed hold of a part as Ryou explained to them the rules again.

"Remember to chant it in your heads nine times; don't worry if you mess it up a little, just make sure you say it nine times. If you do, it won't work."

Bakura blew out a stream of air, looking like he wasn't into this at all. "And if it does fail? This whole paper doll thing is sketchy to me."

Ryou kept his temper in check and just said, "Failure is not an option! Just give it all you got!" He made eye contact with everyone in the group. "Everyone ready? Begin!"

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you."_

"_Sachiko, we beg of you." _

Ryou exhaled as he looked up. Everyone looked up around the same time as they finished chanting. He smiled. "Okay, now that we've said it nine times, grab the paper doll and on the count of three, we're going to pull and tear a piece off for ourselves! Dig your nails into it if you have to, just don't let go."

Everyone gripped the paper doll tightly as they waited for Ryou's signal.

"Okay? Everyone ready? One…two…three!" They all pulled, tearing the doll apart, as lightning flashed and thunder clapped.

Jounouchi screamed again, clutching the piece of paper to his chest as he began shaking.

Everyone laughed but ignored Jounouchi's scream of terror to listen to Ryou.

"Nice job, everyone! Now just keep your piece of Sachiko safe. Put it anywhere where it won't get lost. Your student I.D. holder, your wallet… Because as long as we all have a piece of Sachiko with us, we'll always be connected with one another."

Rebecca laughed with glee. "I'm going to be with Yuugi forever!" she said, going to hug him.

Yami stepped in between the two. "Enough with the hugging, you're going to break his ribs."

Malik gave Yami a mischievous grin. "Jealous, Yami?"

"Wh-what?" he cried. "Of course not!"

Malik laughed and shook his head, turning towards Ryou. "Thank you, Ryou; I'll cherish this forever!" he said, tucking the scrap of paper in his student I.D. holder.

Ryou smiled and hugged the boy. "No problem, consider it my promise to you that we will definitely meet again."

Malik smiled, rubbing his eyes again. "Thanks…" He laughed awkwardly. "Damn it!" he said jokingly. "Now look what you've done."

"I'm gonna miss you, Malik," Bakura said, coming up behind the boy, hugging him and picking him up. "Now I'll just be stuck with Marik."

Marik snarled and punched Bakura in the gut, causing him to drop Malik and that gave him the opportunity to grab the boy and shield him away from Bakura in a way of saying, "Mine."

Mai laughed at the good-natured teasing and clapped again to get everyone's attention.

"Well, it's been fun everyone. I hate to say this, but I think it's about time to clean up this mess and head home," she said, getting into her teacher mode.

Everyone, finally starting to settle down, nodding in agreement and moving to get everything back in order when…

The whole room began to shake and rattle uncontrollably. Everyone was caught off guard, some nearly falling, and Rebecca screaming.

"An earthquake?" Yami said loudly over the confusion and the rumbling.

"Yuugi!" Jounouchi said, reaching for his friend and guarding the smaller boy with his body from anything that may fall.

Mai was walking unsteadily; this earthquake was a large on and it left her completely disoriented and dizzy. "Everyone! Get under a desk now!" she commanded.

But no one could hear her over the blood rushing in their own ears.

"Yuugi!" Rebecca called, trying to run to him, but Yami caught her and held her close so she wouldn't be hurt.

Ryou screamed and felt his knees go weak, he nearly fell but a strong pair of arms wrapped around his torso to steady him.

"Please!" Mai cried, her heart racing in her chest. "Everyone calm down! It will be okay!"

Just as she said that, the section of the floor right under their feet collapsed.

In that moment, everything seemed to be frozen in time and the silence was deafening.

Yami drew in a breath to yell as he looked under him, seeing nothing but endless blackness ready to swallow him up. It took his frazzled mind a moment to register that he had nothing to support himself. There was no ground to stand on.

Then time started again and seemed to speed up at that. He was still clutching Rebecca and he was screaming now, reaching out a hand. "Yuugi!" he cried.

"I'm falling!" someone else cried.

And then they were all falling…

Then everything went white.

-/-

**Ranko: And that's the end of the first chapter! This is going to be interesting to say the least. **

**Yuugi: While all…that was going on, I was looking up Corpse Party…I officially hate Ranko. **

**Ranko: What?! Why are you so upset? You're not the one who is going to have nightmares for a month because you have to write it and watch ALL of the episodes again!**

**Yami: Yeah, but then Yuugi is going to—!**

**Ranko: Spoilers!**

**Yuugi: Even though it's gonna suck for me, I'm glad you're back. **

**Ranko: Me too! And I hope to stay for a while! The next time I disappear, I'll warn you guys! Give me another chapter or two, I'll get back into the swing of this! I have high hopes for this story and I hope you guys like it, but I'm still working on the ****sequel to the Shadow Game Trilogy**** and I have ****some ideas for future stories under construction too!**

**Yami: …Why did you underline that?**

**Ranko: *shrugs* Cause?  
**

**Yuugi: Well, anyway! Please review and show us your support! Tell us what you did like, what you didn't like, what you want to see, or maybe just to say hi!**

**Ranko: See you next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ranko: Before you say anything, I know it's two weeks late, but I hope that you will forgive me! I must thank you for the lovely reviews, but unfortunately I will not be answering them today because of laziness. **

**Yuugi: Let's get this thing started!**

**Yami: Ranko twin owns nothing!**

**Ranko: Enjoy!**

-/-

Yuugi groaned as he regained consciousness. His whole body was sore and his head was pounding. He let out a small whimper of pain as he slowly sat up; his eyes were burning and he could barely open them. He smelt something strange; it was a combination of dust and mildew.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he placed his hands on the floor, which felt uneven and old, to help support him as he stood up but as soon as he placed weight on his left leg, he let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor again.

"Ouch…" he groaned. "My…my leg; I must have sprained it…" Yuugi rubbed his eyes to rid them of the burning sensation and opened them. He saw that there was barely any difference between his eyes being closed and being opened. He furrowed his eyebrows again and blinked a few times, making sure his vision was completely cleared. "Where…am I?"

He fumbled around in the dark for a moment before he found something to help him stand; he stood there for a moment, taking in the dim silhouettes of his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was.

The confused look stayed painted on his face. "No…this can't be…a school?"

As if on cue, the lights above flickered dimly, casting an eerie glow over him; he jumped back in surprised, only realizing then that he could see a bit more clearly now. It was indeed a school, with small little desks and chairs. The floor was rotted out and there were deep, gaping holes spotted here and there.

At the front he saw an old chalkboard, a teacher's desk, and…

Yuugi gasped. "That's Jounouchi," he said quietly to himself. He felt his face light up and his spirits rise. Everything was going to be okay, if he had Jounouchi, everything would be fine! "Jounouchi!" he called.

No response; he seemed to be out cold, or maybe…

Yuugi gasped again, though this time it was more frightful. He shook his head in disbelief. "Jounouchi!" he cried, sounding much more desperate.

No response.

He felt the panic begin to set in. He searched for ways to cross over to the other side but there was no way of getting over considering the poor condition the floors were in. Closer to the back, where he was, there was a door leading out to the hall. He sighed in relief; perfect, he could go out and meet Jounouchi on the other side.

"Please be okay," he whispered to himself as he walked out to the hall.

Out there, the smell was stronger, except there was something else about it that was different and something Yuugi just could not place.

The hall was darker than the classroom but he could still make out shapes; he stuck close to the wall so he would know where the door was, but he didn't notice the small hole in the floor that his tip of his foot got stuck in and he fell forward, letting out a surprised scream.

His hands quickly shot out to catch himself but he could do nothing to stop the pain pulsing in his leg. He whimpered and carefully got up, making sure not to put too much weight on his right leg.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "My ankle is in pretty bad shape."

He carefully stood up and continued walking until he found the door, he nearly cried tears of relief; the pain in his ankle was subsiding but he still had a bad limp.

He rushed over to Jounouchi as fast as he could, hobbling and nearly falling over again. He dropped to his knees beside his friend and looked his body over frantically.

'It doesn't seem like he's injured.' Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief and rested his hands on his friend's shoulder carefully, shaking him awake.

"Jou…Jounouchi, wake up! Please, wake up," he said desperately.

Jounouchi groaned in his sleep and before Yuugi knew what was happening, the boy's hand shot out, grabbed Yuugi's, and pulled the boy on top of him. Yuugi let out a rather feminine shriek as Jounouchi held him close, as if he were a body pillow.

"I would rather stay like this," Jounouchi said in Yuugi's ear, laughter in his voice.

Yuugi's left eye twitched in irritation. He looked down and saw Jounouchi grinning cheekily. He had yet to open his eyes. Yuugi growled and punched Jounouchi in the gut. The boy's eyes shot open at this, releasing a gasp of air; he quickly let go of the Yuugi, causing the smaller boy to roll off, as Jounouchi clutched his stomach.

"Damn Yuugi," he groaned, getting to his knees. "I might have taught you how to defend yourself a little too…" Jounouchi opened his eyes and he finally took in where they were, which was not at the high school. "Well?" he finished in a breathy tone.

Yuugi got up when Jounouchi did, brushing off his school uniform.

Instinctively, Jounouchi took a step closer to Yuugi as a way of protecting him. "Where are we?" he asked, his eyes scanning the dimly lit room.

"I know just as much as you do," Yuugi said, shrugging helplessly.

Jounouchi put a firm hand on Yuugi's shoulder and smiled easily at him. "Let's look around and see what we can find."

Yuugi nodded in agreement. "Alright."

Jounouchi immediately went to the windows, but a scrap of paper by the door caught Yuugi's attention. He hobbled over to it and bent down to pick it up. It was a newspaper clipping.

The headline read: "HEAVENLY HOST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: SERIAL KIDNAPPING INVESTIGATION."

He felt his fingers go numb; he dropped the paper.

He vaguely heard Jounouchi's grunts as he tried to get the windows open.

Heavenly Host Elementary School? That was the same school from Ryou's story. Was this one of Bakura and Marik's infamous pranks? Any minute now they would pop out of their hiding places with everyone else, laughing at their success.

"Hey, Yuugi," Jounouchi called, snapping the smaller boy out of his thoughts. "Come here, you have to check this out."

Yuugi nodded and walked over to Jounouchi, trying to hide his limp the best he could.

Jounouchi's eyes traveled down Yuugi's leg but didn't say anything, he just turned back to the window. "There's a forest outside," he said when Yuugi was beside him. "But it looks like it goes on forever."

Yuugi nodded numbly, his mind still in a haze. Subconsciously his eyes darted to the paper that was still on the floor. Jounouchi, ever the observant one, followed his eyes and darted over to the paper before Yuugi could protest.

He picked it up and read it over quickly; Jounouchi's complexion went pale as he looked around the room, back at the paper, and then to the room again. "Now it makes sense," he said. "Why these desks are so small, why everything is in ruins." His usually bright honey colored eyes became downcast.

Yuugi limped over to Jounouchi and hesitantly reached out a hand. "Jou?" he asked. "What is it?"

Jounouchi didn't look up. "Heavenly Host…the school that preceded Tagami…the one that was shut down and demolished."

Yuugi let out a little nervous laugh. "Jounouchi, you aren't seriously saying that we are actually in Heavenly Host Elementary School, are you?"

It took Jounouchi a moment to answer. The boy looked up and Yuugi was suddenly taken aback when he said the boy smiling brightly, though it seemed a bit strained. He crumpled up the paper and threw it over his shoulder, but Yuugi couldn't help but notice that his hands were shaking slightly.

"Of course not! That's ridiculous! It's obviously one of Bakura and Marik's pranks!" He laughed. "How about we go find them and teach them a lesson for scaring us like this?" He slapped his fist in his palm for dramatic affect.

Yuugi gave a small smile, nodding in agreement but he knew that even though Jounouchi seemed happy, he felt the mysterious crushing weight that settled over them as well.

Jounouchi walked over to the door. "Shall we leave then?" he asked, grinning.

Yuugi nodded and proceeded to limp over to Jounouchi. The other boy took notice of this again but said something this time.

"What's wrong, Yuugi?" he asked.

Yuugi stopped short and looked down, blushing. "I twisted my ankle and it hurts pretty bad."

Jounouchi nodded in understanding and grinned again. "Then do you want me to give you a piggy-back ride?"

Yuugi blushed a brighter red at this. "What?"

Jounouchi smiled cheekily. "I know that I'm not Yami…"

"Would you shut up?" Yuugi cried, smacking Jounouchi's arm. "I do not like Yami!"

Jounouchi laughed. "I never said you did."

Yuugi seemed to realize his mistake at this point and quickly shut his mouth, his blush spreading down to his neck.

Jounouchi sobered. "But I don't want you walking on that leg." The boy sounded sincere. "Please let me carry you."

After a moment of silence Yuugi finally grumbled out, "Okay."

Jounouchi whooped and lowered to the ground so Yuugi could get on his back. Yuugi carefully got up and let out a squeak when Jounouchi suddenly stood up; Yuugi flung his arms around the boy's neck and held on tightly.

Jounouchi laughed. "Hey, loosen up a bit or you'll choke me."

Before they could leave the room, the whole structure began to shake as an earthquake struck. Yuugi screamed and clung onto Jounouchi's neck even tighter. The boy let out a choked scream and dropped to his knees, keeping Yuugi against the wall to keep the boy safe.

The earthquake quickly passed, leaving the boys dazed and frazzled.

"Is it over?" Yuugi asked, loosening his hold on Jounouchi's neck as the boy stood.

"I think so," he said. Jounouchi gulped and looked around the room. Although it was a small earthquake, chaos was bound to happen. The only problem was that there was no difference between the room before the earthquake and after. "Come on," Jounouchi said. "Let's find the others."

They went out into the hallway and Yuugi noticed something that made his breath hitch.

Jounouchi noticed how Yuugi tensed up and nudged him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"This hall…" Yuugi breathed out. "When I went around to get you…it was different. It changed," he observed, slightly awe-struck.

Jounouchi gulped and smiled tightly. "W-well, maybe everything got messed up after that earthquake?" he suggested.

Yuugi silently agreed but couldn't help the feeling of dread coiling around inside of him like a snake. "Let's just go."

Jounouchi didn't get one step before he was faced with his first obstacle. Not quite acquainted to the dark, his foot bumped into something and nearly sent the two of them flying forward.

Yuugi shrieked and held on tighter as Jounouchi regained his footing. "What the hell?" Yuugi asked, looking over Jounouchi's shoulder to see what he tripped over. He made out the shape of a bucket but that was it. "What is that?"

Jounouchi recoiled. "I believe that is a rusty bucket filled with pee."

Yuugi gasped in disgust. "Jounouchi! Do you have to be so blunt about it?"

Jounouchi gaped. "What? You want me to lie to you?" Jounouchi retorted.

Yuugi shook his head. "Let's just keep moving."

They continued down the hall until they came to a flight of stairs. Jounouchi whistled. "Dang, this school is pretty big, huh?"

Yuugi nodded in agreement, keeping his mouth sealed tight. He didn't know why, he had just felt very uneasy from the moment he woke up.

Going further up, they saw the stars had been blocked with chairs lined up row after row. Jounouchi huffed and set Yuugi down. "Dang, this is a fire hazard," he said, half-jokingly as he began to clear the chairs away.

Yuugi kept looking over his shoulder; it didn't feel quite right whenever Jounouchi wasn't next to him. "Come on, Jounouchi," he said quietly. "Let's just go back; we're obviously not going to make it up there."

"Hold on a second," Jounouchi said, completely ignoring what Yuugi said. 

"But, Jou…" Yuugi trailed off as he felt a chill settle over the air around him.

"_Please wait…"_

It felt like someone was whispering that right into his ear. His eyes glazed over as he turned around and walked down the stairs, following the voice.

Jounouchi was preoccupied with the chairs, he barely noticed Yuugi going back downwards. He caught a head of spiky hair disappearing back into the darkness that made him stop what he was doing.

"Yuugi?" he asked.

No response.

He felt his heart beat erratically in his chest. "Shit!" he cursed. "Yuugi!" He dashed down the stairs, almost falling and cracking his skull. He made it down quick enough to notice Yuugi walking into one of the classrooms.

"Yuugi!" he cried, trying to get the boy's attention but he was seemingly ignoring him. Jounouchi ran after him, stumbling into the dark classroom and reaching towards the small, shadowy silhouette that he knew was his friend.

He grabbed Yuugi by the shoulder and whirled him around. He grasped both of his shoulders so he would have no choice but to look him in the eye and it was then that Jounouchi noticed a strange fog in his friend's eyes.

He brought their faces closer, gently patting Yuugi's cheek. "Hey, Yuugi," he said in a small, comforting voice. "Yuugi, what's up?"

After a moment of Yuugi just staring into Jounouchi's eyes blankly, he finally seemed to snap out of it. His eyes became clear, but also frantic. Jounouchi saw the tears welling up in his friend's eyes as he tried to break free of his grip.

"Yuugi! What's wrong with you?" Jounouchi cried, concern written in his eyes.

"Th-there's someone else here!" Yuugi said, his voice cracking. "They called for me! They need my help!"

Jounouchi nearly slapped Yuugi to get his mind focused but he would never hurt his friend. "Yuugi, I didn't hear anyone!"

"No!" Yuugi nearly screamed. He shook his head wildly, his body shaking as all of his emotions built up. Jounouchi felt his heart break as he looked down at his frazzled friend. His eyes were watery with tears but there was a mixture of fear and concern in those amethyst orbs. He could tell that there was some sort of inner confliction going on in his friend's head right then and he honestly did think that slapping him would be the best course of action at this point.

While Jounouchi was lost in these thoughts, Yuugi broke free and rushed across the room to a human shaped figure that was lying on the ground. His eyes widened in disbelief; it was dark but that figure was definitely a human one. Was Yuugi right? If that was really a person than there might be hope for them yet to find their friends and find a way home.

That thought was crushed when he heard an ear-piercing, blood-curdling scream come from Yuugi that could have woken the dead. Jounouchi flinched at the sound but immediately rushed over to Yuugi.

The boy was still screaming, staring off into space. His whole body was rigid. Jounouchi took the smaller boy in his arms to try and comfort him; Yuugi's screams died down to sputtering cries.

"Yuugi!" Jounouchi cried, keeping the boy close to his chest. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Yuugi opened his mouth but nothing came out, just small gasps and unintelligible mumbles. Yuugi just raised a shaky hand and pointed.

What Jounouchi saw was the lifeless eyes of a dead _human_ corpse staring up at him. Jounouchi jumped up, taking Yuugi up with him and backed away wildly. "What the _fuck_?" he cried. He quickly covered Yuugi's eyes and turned the still shaking boy away so he didn't have to look at it.

He saw the Yuugi's hands were stained with what appeared to be mud and some kind of mushy substance that Jounouchi didn't even want to guess what it was. Yuugi bent over and threw up.

Then suddenly out of the corpse rose a blue spirit that oddly resembled a flame.

Jounouchi didn't have any time to react to this before he heard the things spoke.

"_I see…so you two are the new victims?"_

-/-

**Ranko: And that is chapter 2! Things are just starting to heat up!**

**Yuugi: I'm a wuss…**

**Ranko: Correction, you're insane. But you're still an adorable baby panda!**

**Yami: When will I show up?**

**Ranko: …**

**Yami: Ranko!**

**Ranko: This is a very diverse story! Corpse Party utilizes all of the characters equally!**

**Yami: Shit, that means this won't be like The Shadow Game. **

**Ranko: You know what? Go sit in your corner! **

**Yuugi: (drags Yami away) Come on. **

**Ranko: While they do…that, I am really looking forward to when Bakura and Ryou come on the scene! They were actually my inspiration behind this whole thing and that's also when all the good stuff starts happening! I definitely have plans for them. **

**Yuugi: Yami is taken care of!**

**Ranko: Good! Now do the end thingy!**

**Yuugi: We hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Please show your support by reviewing!**

**Ranko: Bye-bye!**


End file.
